Dan, over at Position of Ignorance has written a generic journal entry, which intrigued Your Humble Blogger, and inspired the following (generic) musings.
These musings begin, generically, with an examination of a word used in passing by Dan, which he chose without much thought, but which seems to me to symbolize the entire argument in all its ramifications. I research the history of the word, wasting an hour or so mucking around the OED as well as various on-line dictionaries of slang and vernacular. All of this research is entertaining to YHB, but results in two or three sentences that are neither original nor illuminative. However, the hour or so is gone, so I slap together the rest of the post in five minutes or so, winding long and recursive sentences around the word in question.
In the next bit, I allude briefly and generically to the ways the different usages of the word signify differences of mindset, and the fact that Our Only President and his secretive cabal of crooks and incompetents use the word, and thus perceive the universe, very different from YHB. Well, and it turns out to not be so briefly, after all.
Then I suggest that this really addresses one of the things we’ve been kicking around on this Tohu Bohu for a while. By this point, the original post has been completely obscured, in favor of one of my hobby-horses.
A conclusory paragraph indicates that I think the topic is an interesting one, posits that the post above is but the vaguest musings on it, and hopes to avoid criticism on that basis. This paragraph contains two typos, one of which I correct shortly after posting. I also, quoting Dan, “invite anyone who happens to be reading to update your own journal or leave a comment here that fits or describes your usual mode of expression—but generically.”
Tag line,
-Vardibidian.
I take exception to a minor statement of opinion about a work of popular culture that you mentioned as an aside. Although it clearly shows you to be confused, I do agree with the thrust of your argument.
I have a funny (to me) story to tell about a friend of mine who used your chosen word once and confused a lot of people. But the circumstances were different.
And I can’t close without mentioning my delightful baby daughter.
well i can think of several situations in which the word could be used in that sense in normal conversation, without being unclear. for example when one was discussing a newspaper article, or choosing the appropriate metric for a new test of brute strength.
not only that – an additional exploratory comment, so tightly worded as to be an condescending oblique – and a reference to a common situation which, viewed from my unique perspective, bears an incredible similarity to the view seen by a 4-year-old child from bolivia.
�azucar!
I ignore the content of your post in favor of finding the one sentence about which I can make a cheap joke, and do so.
I have to question whether Vardibidian actually wrote this entry, on the grounds that it mentions none of His Best Reader, His Perfect Non-Reader, part of the Parshah, a Book Review, or the Jints 🙂